The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has filed a lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari, following the recent presidential pardon of former Governors of Plateau and Taraba States, Senator Joshua Dariye and Rev. Jolly Nyame, that have been serving prison time for corruption charges.
The pardon, in SERAP’s perspective, seems to go against the President’s anti-corruption campaign and doesn’t sit well with what he has been preaching since 2015.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to tackle corruption at all levels and even once said that if Nigeria doesn’t kill corruption, it will surely kill Nigeria.
The group finds it strange that after all the political mandates centring mostly on fighting corrupt officials, the President would go against his principles and release government officials that have been put in jail for misappropriation of public funds.
For the aforementioned reasons, SERAP filed the suit against Buhari and asked the court to declare the pardon illegal and incompatible with the oath of office and public interest.
However, Dariye and Nyame were not the only ones pardoned as the President also dropped a charges against 157 others convicted for various offences.
Details of Group’s Lawsuit
In the suit number FHC/L/CS/825/2022 filed at the Federal High Court, Lagos, the group is asking the court to determine “whether the exercise of the power of prerogative of mercy to grant pardon to Mr Dariye and Mr Nyame is compatible with the public interest, the oath of office, and constitutional duty to combat corruption.”
